16 Feb 2005

Verdi's Nabucco at the Met

There is an honesty to Elijah Moshinsky’s four-year-old production of Verdi’s “Nabucco,” which returned to the Metropolitan Opera on Monday night. No excuses are made for the opera’s creaky theatrical state, no attempts to bring up-to-date relevance to what became a symbol of revolution and national unity for Italians 160 years ago.

Allowing a Warhorse to Enjoy Free Rein

By BERNARD HOLLAND [NY Times, 16 Feb 05]

There is an honesty to Elijah Moshinsky's four-year-old production of Verdi's "Nabucco," which returned to the Metropolitan Opera on Monday night. No excuses are made for the opera's creaky theatrical state, no attempts to bring up-to-date relevance to what became a symbol of revolution and national unity for Italians 160 years ago.

Mr. Moshinsky does not shrink from the melodramatic gesture, shuffling chorus movement or stand-and-deliver set piece. He realizes, I think, that "Nabucco" will never be modern theater and lets it continue its ride into posterity on the back of Verdi's music and its astonishing reserves of energy.